Chapter 426: The Spoils of the Excavators
As I was getting ready to head back to my bedroom for some well-deserved rest, a few of the witch mentors who had chatted with me earlier stepped a bit closer for another round of small talk.
However, they mostly wanted to know if there was any fun to be had in this world. I mentioned a few spots on my globe-trotting itinerary, but they seemed rather indifferent and instead displayed interest in the Wanlian Main Network Tree.
After watching me leave, one witch suddenly asked, “Speaking of which, shouldn’t we tell Xiao Han about this?”
With that comment, the mood in the lobby lightened a bit.
“What’s the point in telling Xiao Han ahead of time? I’m not like that blabbermouth Mei! Leave a little surprise, will you? I wonder how Xiao Han will react when she sees these folks in the main world. That expression of hers might be quite a sight!” Headmistress Beifu shrugged casually.
She then toyed with an extraordinary pixel that wasn’t even sealed and just floated in her hand, not disappearing.
This playful gesture also hinted that they were definitely not clueless about the excavators.
“That’s true, but Xiao Han’s Reverse Summoning Spell seems pretty impressive too. Let’s hope that world doesn’t get wiped out by her first.”
“That’s unlikely, right?”
“Didn’t Xiao Han already spread the Reverse Summoning Rune Ceremony? What if?”
“Oh well, let’s not get into that. This world isn’t exactly bursting with fun.”
“I’d say… this world is probably just a ticket sent over by the Abyss Demons, right?”
At this point, the witches were chatting quite freely about these matters. They clearly understood the Abyss Demons’ motives and recognized the Witch Academy’s stance—essentially moving into the main world, right?
But that didn’t stop them from disliking those ugly demons.
In front of them, this little world was merely an appetizer; the real main course was that larger unknown world they were tentatively speculating about, which tied back to this small world.
After a brief overview of what they learned from Xiao Han, they had dubbed that world the “Game World”. The many small worlds attached to it were quite impressive too!
It was clear how much thought the Abyss Demons had poured into this little show of goodwill. On the surface, it appeared as if they had merely “sent” a small world over, but in reality, it was “a small gift with a lot of sentiment”!
With that, the witches would have to back the Abyss Demons’ entry into the main world.
Other extraordinary academies had received similar perks. Otherwise, how do you think those inferior demon academies and undead academies in the main world got established?
Naturally, they received benefits, established relationships, and opened doors through backchannels.
The top three extraordinary academies must have received their share of goodies; otherwise, how could they rationalize the existence of those academies?
But now it seemed it was the Witch Academy’s turn. The Abyss Demons weren’t fools; after gifting those three extraordinary races, they immediately retracted when they crammed in some junk like inferior demons and undead. So, they decided to take a more sensible approach.
It was far better to work with the witches, who seemed pretty open to welcoming higher-level demons like succubi into the main world. Once they had those higher-level demons leading the charge, it would be a clean entry into the main world.
The Abyss Demons had confidence that, by then, they could consolidate those smaller academies and eventually build an Abyss Demon Academy on par with the top three extraordinary academies.
…
Meanwhile, I stopped in my tracks on the way back and listened for any updates from the headmistresses, but after waiting around for a while with no sounds, I gave up. They had probably cast some soundproofing spell…
Most likely to block me from eavesdropping.
If they weren’t going to let me hear, then I wasn’t going to listen…
After all, it was great that the high-ups in the Witch Academy were willing to share certain matters with me, but I understood they were under no obligation to tell me anything about their plans.
After a quick shower, I returned to my room.
However, instead of sleeping, I found I was spending less time on rest and my daily routine seemed increasingly out of whack.
But thinking it over, that made sense. The idea of rising with the sun and resting with its setting is a habit developed through adaptation. But from the perspective of the Void, there’s no such thing as day and night. Thus, when thoughts break free from the confines of a single world, the concept of rest becomes fully fluid.
The transitions of day and night in the external world no longer dictate my schedule; I needed to decide when to rest based on my own circumstances.
It’s a process of shifting from external dependence to self-reflection.
The cycles of day and night in the world are like a compliance test for all life within it, right?
For instance, it’s late—do you sleep? If you don’t, you’re just pulling an all-nighter. Or when it’s daytime—do you get up? If you don’t, you’re just being lazy and daydreaming.
So… in the face of such rigid circumstances, people unwilling to accept the status quo develop a rebellious mindset, leading to the emergence of nightlife. Given the characteristics of witches, I suddenly understood why nightlife in the Witch Academy was such a defining feature.
So now… naturally, I just had to pull an all-nighter!
After all, I wasn’t sleepy, so this was the perfect time to delve deeper into matters regarding the Knowledge Tree.
I was still planning to link it with my Illusionary Clone, but tackling that was no walk in the park.
While I was at it, I began shaping public opinion on the Plant Network, pretending that as fellow excavators, we had uncovered the secrets of this world regarding the origins of magic! The secrets buried in this world are the source of extraordinary power, among other things.
I knew this would probably not fool the higher-ups of that civilization. They surely understood the importance of the secrets in this world and knew it should involve Extraordinary Knowledge. Even if they didn’t know exactly, they at least suspected it was far from mere magic!
Otherwise, the introduction of magic and spells would greatly disrupt their science and technology.
But what did it matter if the higher-ups knew? As long as the player base at the bottom was ignorant, that was enough. Even if they tried to block it, it would be futile; unless they were willing to play dirty, which would basically mean confessing that the game had issues.
After a sleepless night, I continued tinkering away at my issues, even before dawn fully arrived, I started my daily routine of meditation and body exercises, which had long become second nature to me.
However, I noticed the effects of my physical training were diminishing. It seemed like I was nearly done using this basic ritual dance, and once I got back to the Witch Academy, I could always switch to some higher-level stuff.
After finishing my usual routine, I spotted several of the witch mentors who were early risers—or perhaps… they shared my habits of not sleeping at night?
I suspected there was a good chance of that.
Meanwhile, some from last night had completely vanished, reportedly off to find some fun.
After a long night, I realized I still had plenty of questions I wanted to ask.
For instance… what were those excavators invading this world really here for?
Simply for that scrap of Extraordinary Knowledge?
But without any real benefits, how long could that last?
Moreover, they had given up halfway—they must have been hemorrhaging resources!
When I posed this question to the headmistress, she didn’t hold back and laid it all out for me.
First, she corrected my thinking about the profit from world invasion. When it comes to world-level invasion, simple material plunder is no longer sufficient.
If we were truly talking about this type of plunder, it would only be extraordinary materials, rare substances, and so forth.
World-to-world plundering primarily revolves around three aspects, known as the “Three Source Elements.”
Regarding the material plunder mentioned earlier, it essentially constitutes the plundering of “world essence.” Having ample world essence is the foundation for a world to grow and develop.
Next up is the “Extraordinary Source Crystals,” which dictate a world’s progress and are one of the main reasons for the abundance or scarcity of extraordinary energy.
Do you really think every scientific world strictly adheres to a technological side?
Maybe they simply lack the Extraordinary Source Crystals needed to nurture the seedlings of extraordinary civilizations.
As for our small world, while it’s not devoid of Extraordinary Source Crystals, it has embarked on the path of plant technology under the influence of the world’s consciousness.
As for the last of the three source elements, that’s the “soul material,” the life that flows within a world and the basis for giving birth to life in that realm.
Given the bloody disposition of those excavators I described, they are highly likely after the soul material.
After all, utilizing that Extraordinary Knowledge to invade and dominate a small world necessitates a massive population to support such development. Thus, they’ve uncovered the secret of soul material and have been plundering it as their means of world development; that’s not hard to guess.
As to why one of the three source elements is soul material rather than simply “souls,” it’s due to the concept of “soul” not having gained widespread understanding in the Void yet.
Of course… more importantly, the main world hasn’t “recognized” it yet. Once the concept of souls permeates the Void and the next main world grants acknowledgment to the concept of souls, thereby birthing life based on it, only then will the concept flow freely throughout the Void!
Even newly birthed worlds in the Void will follow the concept of souls from the very beginning in their evolution of life.
The main world is special, existing as the sole entity situated at the heart of the Earth’s flow.
Its fluctuations impact the changes across the entire Void.
It’s akin to the widely acknowledged concept of Real Time in the Void. Thus, in the main world, even those who aren’t extraordinary possess talents akin to Spirit Vision. Not only Spirit Vision, but historical worlds dubbed “main worlds” also have other cases of perception reaching Real Time, encompassing the five senses corresponding to “real five senses.”
Spirit Vision is just one of the five senses—visual perception.
There’s a more commonly circulated proof of this: the concept of “humanity.” Because humans initially held a dominant position in the original main world, many small worlds born in the Void exhibit humanoid forms.
They refer to themselves as humans, even if their appearances differ slightly, they all consider themselves human. To distinguish, they might try to categorize themselves into different human tribes.
Thus, the main world draws countless extraordinary races towards it because it quite literally engraves the “concept” of their races into the earth’s rivers of the Void. Even if the impact is minor, it’s enough for extraordinary races to blossom in the Void like the concept of “humanity,” radiating their unique brilliance.
Even if they have no connection on a fundamental level, shared traits create an innate sense of belonging.
Plus, given that life inherently has a tendency to revere strength, those races in the Void would naturally view the most advanced of their kind as leaders…
The impact of this information hit me hard, providing me with deeper insights into the concept of “main world.”
Of course, none of this was explicitly stated by Headmistress Beifu. She only briefly outlined the three source elements and the presumption that excavators could possibly snatch soul material from this world, nothing more.
I also compared this world’s annual birth and total population data on the Plant Network, which indeed confirmed a gradual decline year after year, bolstering my suspicions.
As for the remaining information about the main world, I shamelessly inquired with other mentors.
I’ve been molded by Teacher Ji and Headmistress Mei to be incredibly curious about these new concepts, so encountering something intriguing naturally prompts me to investigate.
However, gaining this knowledge doesn’t come without a cost—they aren’t as willing to divulge information as Headmistress Mei and Teacher Ji.
To get a witch mentor to loosen her lips, I had to offer my total control over the Plant Network here. When I proposed this exchange, she looked at me like I was a ghost, but in the end, she accepted gleefully.
She even shared tons of other fascinating tales with me, opening my eyes to a whole new world.
Sure enough… building good relationships with mentors can lead to casual conversations that unintentionally increase my understanding.
Although Headmistress Beifu may not seem as talkative as Headmistress Mei, she didn’t stop me from learning about these matters.
In the remaining time, I prepared to continue my journey, and I took the liberty of extending our stay at the lodgings where the headmistresses resided.
After all, the witch mentors would definitely want to personally investigate the state of this world, and the information they gleaned from me and Qiu Ruxin was just supplementary.
Adding my highest authority over the Plant Network reduced their workload significantly.
Regardless, this world ultimately belongs to the main world, and they won’t come in with a plan to obliterate everything.
That absurd idea is really the kind of thing only I would entertain!
After all, this world is abysmal. But… can you imagine if I wiped out every world that didn’t meet my standards or was just plain disappointing? I’d be exhausted!
At that point, my title of Catastrophe Witch would be confirmed, and I might even get upgraded to World-Destroying Witch or something.
Plus, the mentors had revealed that their presence was not just to break the information barriers between worlds; they were also accelerating the collision and integration of this small world with the main world to a certain extent, though the timeline is still undetermined.
Putting aside those earlier unrealistic fantasies and the things I cannot interfere with, I set my sights on fully immersing myself in this journey before returning to the Witch Academy.
This timeframe would likely stretch over a few months. After all, the headmistresses and mentors hadn’t called me back, so this definitely qualifies as a rational interdimensional exploration mission!
Not to mention I was also exempt from certain classes; my travels were essentially a form of self-cultivation! At most, I might just miss a few monthly tests.
Also, if Headmistress Mei or Teacher Ji wanted me back, they could simply summon me back with a Reverse Summoning Ceremony; it’s that convenient.
If I were to worry about such trivial matters, then this journey would have been better left untouched from the start.
At this moment, the only thing I was slightly concerned about was Sister Bai.
It had really been a long time since we last met…
Yet, I hoped she wouldn’t rush back. After all, once she left the main world, the witch’s realm was definitely a much more suitable place for her; there, she’d grow much faster.
Returning to the main world would bring about many restrictions.
This tension was a collision between my selfish desires and a genuine concern for Sister Bai.
But no matter how I think, the decision has to be made by her.
As expected… no matter how rational my thoughts are, when it comes to Sister Bai, I just don’t want to think too deeply.
Because love and affection can’t withstand such logical scrutiny; human beings also need to embrace their emotions at times.
